Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Harper, Harps, and Trailer Music

Muse Playing the Harp, by Antoine Auguste Ernest Hebert (Didja see, she has the whole, "I'm infinitely cooler than you," look going? Probably because of her superior hand posture.)

I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but The Peculiar is going to have a book trailer, and book trailers have MUSIC in them, and HarperCollins was cool and let me write the music for mine.

I can't show you the trailer yet, or the music, but I can show you the FAILS. There were many fails. Twelve, to be precise. Here's how they came about...

Wayyyyy back in the Spring I wrote to my editor and said something like, "Um, could perhaps, if it be ok, I write the trailer music, please?" and Editor said, "You may" and I said, "YaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaythankyouSOMUCH" and then, being all practical and time-efficient, I wrote twelve different trailer pieces before I had even seen the trailer.

Stefan composing. No really.

Of course, those twelve pieces all had to be scrapped once I got the actual
video, because hello, you can't just write whatever you want, kiddo, and there are such thangs as
mood and timing to consider. So the twelve music pieces were doomed to oblivion.

*movie voice* UNTIL NOW.

I'll show you three of the scrapped ones. The harpiest ones, since that's the title of this post. It's actually kind of a coincidence they all have so much harp in them. I was working with a new sound library, and the piano, which would normally be my go-to choice for the base-instrument, sounded awfullllll. So harp it was.

Below is my first try. It's kind of happy and drama-y, and it's played by an electronic orchestra which automatically makes it a little bit disgusting. But I like the 3/4 over 6/8. It gives it an off-beat without technically having an off-beat. Yes.

This next one is somewhat skin-and-bones. Not very polished. The theme is okay, and I think I might want to use it for a bigger piece someday.

This one is only harp. No orchestra. Which really wouldn't have matched the trailer at all. It could maybe work for the super-sekrit-Russian-project's book trailer. :P But not so much for the shiny-gloomy book with the bird on it.

Did you like any of those? One, two, or three? I can put up some of the other pieces in later blog posts if you found that interesting. Or not. Let me know! :)

Aw. Thank you! :) I don't think I could write enough music for your whole life, though. Unless you just want highlight music. Like, for when you're scaling skyscrapers and hiking to Mordor and suchlike. Which I'm sure you do ALL THE TIME, and in which case, YES, I would totally want to write the soundtrack. :D

Oh, I like them all! Actually, I LOVE the first, very much enjoy the second, though I admit to a slight feeling of confusion at the third. Anyway, I hope you score movies someday, because they all sounds like great movie themes.

@Rosie Kate: Woo! Thank you! :) The third one is a little bit all-over-the-place. The chord progression is pretty regular, but the melody does some odd jumps. It also has a lot of duoles over trioles. :P

@Clayvessel: I like the first one best, too. :) But the actual Peculiar Trailer/Pieces are darker, I think, and have a differnet sound from these.

I kind of love all three! The second was my favorite, but it was pretty close between that one and the last. You are crazy talented, Stefan. Seriously. I knew that already, but this just confirmed it. :)

Just finished reading your novel. You have created the most original, imaginative olio of genres I've ever encountered.Your music samples here are pure genius. Please let us know when your CD will be available. ( Not kidding ) Especially the first two composition samples above just pull me up out of my reality and I'm in an alternate place wherever it is that music lives and I wish it could go on forever! You are truly a creative genius, and so young! Bravo!

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I write words and music. Books are: faerypunk THE PECULIAR (out now), its companion THE WHATNOT (out now), 1/4 of a spooky anthology THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (out now), and my YA debut A DROP OF NIGHT (Winter 2016), all from Greenwillow/HarperCollins. I'm repped by Sara Megibow at KT Literary.